Fabrication and Electrical Evaluation of MoSi2-Si Composite Thin Films

Thin films of a composite of molybdenum disilicide (MoSi2) and silicon (Si) were fabricated by radio frequency magnetron sputtering using a target made of a powder mixture of MoSi2 and Si with a Si-to-Mo molar ratio of 1:X (2.0 <= X <= 2.5). The Hall coefficients were measured to identify the conduction mechanisms in the thin films. The sign and magnitude of the Hall coefficients revealed that thin films with X = 2.0-2.2 having a hexagonal crystal structure showed p-type conduction, while the mechanism for the n-type film with X = 2.33 was unknown and that for a composite of hexagonal and an unknown structure with X = 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5 showed mixed conduction.